pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
The Bells / Poe
"The Bells" is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in 1849. It is perhaps best known for the diacopic repetition of the word "bells." Background Inspiration for the poem is often granted to Marie Louise Shew, a woman who had helped care for Poe's wife Virginia as she lay dying. One day, as Shew was visiting Poe at his cottage in Fordham, New York, Poe needed to write a poem but had no inspiration. Shew allegedly heard ringing bells from afar and playfully suggested to start there, possibly even writing the first line of each stanza.E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore Analysis The poem is in 4 stanzas. Each stanza becomes darker and darker as the poem progresses from "the jingling and the tinkling" of silver bells in S1 to the "moaning and the groaning" of iron bells in S4. This poem can be interpreted in many different ways, the most basic of which is simply a reflection of the sounds that bells can make, and the emotions evoked from that sound. For example, "From the bells bells bells bells/Bells bells bells!" brings to mind the clamoring of myriad church bells. Several deeper interpretations exist as well. The poem can be read ais a representation of life from the nimbleness of youth to the pain of age. Growing despair is emphasized, alongside the growing frenzy in the tone of the poem.Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. New York City: Harper Perennial, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 p. 403 Another interpretation is the passing of the seasons, from spring to winter. The passing of the seasons is often used as a metaphor for life itself. The poem also suggests a Poe theme of mourning over a lost wife, courted in sledge, married, and then killed in a fire as the husband looks on. The tolling of the iron bells reflects the final madness of the grief-stricken husband. The sounds of the verses, specifically the repetitive "bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells," lie on a narrow line between sense and nonsense, causing a feeling of instability.Rosenheim, Shawn James. The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. p. 125. ISBN 9780801853326 Poe uses the word "tintinnabulation", which many critics believe is merely an onomatopoeic nonsense term. Poe biographer Hervey Allen suggests the word is based on an ancient bell-based instrument called "tintinabula".Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 25. ISBN 086576008X The series of "bells" echo the imagined sounds of the various bells, from the silver bells following the klip-klop of the horses, to the "dong, ding-dong" of the swinging golden and iron bells, to screeching "whee-aaah" of the brazen bells. The series are always 4, followed by 3, always beginning and ending on a stressed syllable. The meter changes to iambic in the lines with repeated "bells," bringing the reader into their rhythm. Most of the poem is a more hurried anapestic (**/) meter. The bells of which Poe writes are thought to be those he heard from Fordham University's bell tower, since Poe resided in the same Bronx neighborhood as that university. He also frequently strolled about Fordham's campus conversing with both the students and the Jesuits. Publication history Poe is believed to have written "The Bells" in May 1848 and submitted it three times to Sartrain's Union Magazine, a magazine run by John Sartain, until it was finally accepted.Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 25. ISBN 081604161X He was paid $15 for his work, though it was not published until November 1849, after his death. In popular culture *Sergei Rachmaninoff composed a choral symphony, The Bells, Op. 35, based on a Russian adaptation of the poem by Konstantin Balmont. The symphony follows classical sonata form – opening movement, slow movement, scherzo, and finale – thus honoring the poem's 4 sections.AmericanSymphony.org (The work is sometimes performed in English, using not Poe's original, but a translation of Balmont's adaptation by Fanny S. Copeland.) *Scottish composer Hugh S. Roberton (1874–1947) published "Hear the Tolling of the Bells" (1909), "The Sledge Bells" (1909), and "Hear the Sledges with the Bells" (1919) based on Poe's poem.Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 212. ISBN 081604161X *Josef Holbrooke]] composed "The Bells, Prelude, Op. 50" on Poe's poem *Phil Ochs composed a tune to the poem recorded on his album All the News That's Fit to Sing. *Eric Woolfson, musical partner to Alan Parsons in the Alan Parsons Project, has written 2 albums based on the writings of Poe. His second, More Tales of Mystery and Imagination includes a song entitled "The Bells", for which he set Poe's words to music. This album was also the basis for a musical stage production that was performed in England, Austria, and other European countries. See also *Other poems by Poe References External links ;Text *Scans from an 1881 edition with engraved illustrations by R. Riodan, Charles P. King, F.O.C. Darley, S.G. McCutcheon, A. Fredericks, and Granville Perkins ;Audio / Video *The Bells with audio reading at Reely's Audio Poems. *The Bells sung by Phil Ochs. Category:1849 poems Category:Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe Category:Posthumous poems Category:Works originally published in American magazines Category:Works originally published in literary magazines Category:Onomatopoeias Category:Text of poem